Dirty Little Secret
by jellybean88
Summary: Draco is one of the "maids" from Cleaner Homes Inc, when he is hired by a mysterious author to do the weekly cleaning at his house. And if the strange butler isn't going to send him packing then the identity of his boss just might.


_A.N: As you can probably tell this story hasn't been betaed yet. So please excuse any mistakes that you find in the text. If anyone is interested in beta reading this one and the other parts of this story, please let me know. I would really appreciate your help. =)  
Also, I'm sorry for the strange break line that I had use use. My usual double dash wouldn't work for some reason. Well, without further ado, onto the story. _

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_**Dirty Little Secret**

Draco Malfoy huffed and pushed his blonde fringe out of his eyes as he surveyed his last two hours of work. He had been on his hands and knees, scrubbing away at the tile floor of Mrs. Caron's home. The ungrateful hag had let her kitchen floors go for two months without calling the agency to send someone to deep clean it for her and Draco could throttle her for it.

The blonde scrolled down to the next podcast on his iPod and moved on to the next cleaning task before him; the library.

It was a strange job he kept these days. He was one of the dozens of employees of Cleaner Home Inc. It was a wizarding company, cleaning the homes of muggles. The irony never escaped Draco. Pansy had suggested it to him when she had seen him crawling along the dungeon floor of Malfoy Manner, scrubbing the dirt off each tile – with a toothbrush none the less – out of sheer boredom.

He had been completely against it at first; after all cleaning anything was beneath a Malfoy. But there was nothing else to do for him at the Manor, and no one else in the Wizarding world would even give his resume a courtesy glance.

"It will get you out of the house," his mother had said with a smile.

"It will get you out of my hair," his father had nearly shouted, pushing Draco already towards the door, ignoring the fact the ex-Slytherin was only wearing a T-shirt and boxers.

Draco wouldn't have admitted it, but he was glad for Pansy's suggestion. The work had been easy until the perfectionist in Draco had taken over and he had started to clean by hand versus using only his magic. But the transition had ensured that he would keep his job as suddenly even Wizarding Britain asked for his services, preferring a home cleaned by hand, and not by means of magic. It didn't hurt that thanks to Granger all House Elves had been set free and many households couldn't bring themselves to pay the creatures for work they had done free for centuries.

A hand touched his arm, and the blonde pulled one of his ear plugs out. Mrs. Caron was standing in the doorway of the library, beaming at him. "You're doing such a wonderful job, Draco!"

"Thank you, Beth."

The old woman held a piece of parchment in her hand and gave it to Draco. "This came by owl just a few minutes ago. It looks like it's from your company."

He raised one eyebrow but didn't bother to ask her how she would know that. The parchment was blank on the outside after all. Slipping one slender finger under the plain seal he flipped the parchment over and swiftly read through the lines. He had another appointment to go to later; a new client.

"Is it important dear?" Mrs. Caron asked, raised on her tip-toes to look over his shoulder.

"Not really," Draco said with a forced smile. God the woman could get on your nerves. "Just another appointment for later. If you'll excuse me, I have your library to sort through." He shut the door firmly in her face before she could say anything else.

0o--o0

Draco's footsteps fell in time with the beat of one of the songs that was currently thumping through his earphones. It made the trek to his new client's house more bearable. He would have aparated or even flow in on his broom, but since the person lived in the middle of muggle London that would have been a bad idea.

He rounded a corner and was faced with a huge brick house. Black shutters blocked the windows, giving the house a dark feeling even in the middle of a sunny afternoon. The black iron fence didn't help either. With a sigh Draco walked up to the gates, tucking his earphone into the pocket of his black jeans.

The gates swung open by themselves and for a moment he thought that maybe it was magic, until he saw the security camera on the top of one of the brick pillars framing the entrance. It would figure that someone that could afford such a wonderful house would have security cameras.

The garden was wonderfully manicured, with hedges trimmed into neat rectangles, lush green gas, and flower beds shaped into perfect circles. There was a pond on the right side and upon craning his neck Draco noticed there were even fish in it. Although he had no idea what kind they were.

The front door of the house reminded him of Hogwarts; large, double door, and made of dark wood. One side swung open before he reached the top of the stairs and he blinked in surprise at the elderly man standing in the frame.

"You are Mr. Malfoy I presume?"

"Yes."

"Very well then, follow me please. And remove your shoes at the door," the elderly man said and turned around to disappear into the house without a second glance.

Draco hurried after him, kicking his shoes off at the door. "I appreciate you seeking my services," he said once he was standing straight again.

"It was not I who sought you out. The Master of the house is very particular with his housekeeping and after the last hired help didn't work out he did more research. We were told you knew how to deal with persons that want to remain largely anonymous."

Draco nodded. "Is the Master of the house a celebrity then?" he asked before he could stop himself. He always preferred to know why his clients didn't want to be known.

The elderly man wrinkled his nose and nodded. "He is." Without another word on the matter he turned around and walked up the main stairs. "Come, I'll show you your duties while you are under the Masters payroll. My name is Mr. Greaves by the way."

Draco followed him up the stairs and took a notebook and pen out of his messenger bag. Something told him he would need the notes.

0o--o0

Greaves was a strange man in Draco's opinion. He reminded him of a cross between Snape, Dumbledore and his father. One could tell right away that he respected and cherished his elusive Master and that he would not tolerate any sort of fan stalking. Not that Draco found such behavior acceptable in the first place.

An hour after his arrival he had a long list of duties that were to be carried out every Friday when he was at the house. The most tedious would be cleaning the four bathrooms from top to bottom, and cleaning the floors of each room and hallway.

"You are welcome to anything in the pantry or fridge during lunch, at half past noon. You will be given an hour long break at that time and are welcome to enjoy the Masters garden if you wish. His library is also open to you. And beverages can be taken out of the kitchen at any time that you are thirsty. Are there any questions so far?"

Draco glanced up from his notebook and shook his head. "No sir."

Greaves glanced at the earphone cord and smiled slightly. "You work better with music?"

"Uh, yes."

"Then I'll be sure not to disturbed you while you are working. As it is already too late for you to start at the beginning, the floors will be your only duty for today." Mr. Greaves turned around and left the kitchen briskly, leaving Draco to work.

The blonde shrugged, hanging his bag on the back of one of the chairs in the kitchen. Sticking his earphones back into place, he set off to find the vacuum cleaner and mop and bucket.

0o--o0

A black owl was waiting for Draco when he finally arrived at home. It sat perfectly still on the back of one of the kitchen chairs, a black envelope on the table in front of it. It watched him with ice blue eyes, as he crossed the kitchen and fished some owl treats from a jar on the counter.

"You must have been here for a while," he muttered, holding out his hand with the treat.

It took the treat and made quick work of it. With a quiet hoot, the owl flew gracefully through the window and disappeared behind a cluster of clouds.

Draco slipped a slender finger into the corner of the envelope and tore it open. There hadn't been any markings, so he wasn't sure who it was from. The writing on the cream colored parchment was elegant and unlike any he had seen before. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Thank you for the exceptional work you did today. The floors look clean enough to eat off of. For future reference, the tool shed in the back of the garden has slots for brooms on one of the walls; you are welcome to use one of them if you need to. There is also an apparition spot in a cluster of trees safely out of sight from my Muggle neighbors. See you next Friday.

J. Black

Draco pursed his lips in annoyance. The bastard was a wizard and no one had bothered to mention it. He had done all that walking today for nothing. He was going to have a stern walking to with Leona, the Company secretary.

He looked at the signature again and his eyebrows wrinkled together in thought. The name didn't ring any bells as to who his reclusive employer was. The only J. Black that Draco knew was his cousin Jasper, and the bumbling idiot was no celebrity. Perhaps it was a pen name that the man used to sign notes and letters that weren't too important.

He tossed the note onto the other end of the counter top, making a mental note to ask Pansy about any J. Black's that she might know or have heard of, and went back to making himself some tea and dinner.

0o--o0

Pansy sipped at her fancy coffee drink and winkled her nose in thought. At school Draco had found that habit to be extremely annoying. Now that he didn't have to see Pansy every day he thought it was endearing.

"What about your cousin Jasper?" she asked.

"There is no way that idiot Jasper would be the one owning that house, and he certainly wouldn't be a celebrity."

"What if that Mr. Greaves guy lied to you? It could be Jasper who has come into a large sum of money and just wants to see his favorite cousin clean his house," she said, managing to put pure poison behind the word favorite.

Jasper had always been a bit jealous of Draco and his family since his mother had fallen out of favor with the others after marrying into a lesser pure blood family. They were still above the Weasleys', but only just. This had lead to several uncomfortable dinners and the family finally moving to the Americas. Now that Draco thought about it, it would be like his dear cousin to get a kick out of seeing Draco scrub his floors. But he wouldn't send a note thanking him.

"Let me see this owl."Pansy held her hand out expectantly.

Draco handed her the note and sat back in the plush seat, sipping at his own drink. As a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha it was probably the sweetest drink on the list, and earned him several teasing remarks from Pansy every time they met at the shop by her house.

Pansy suddenly smiled and gave him the note back. "You're working for James Black."

"Who?"

"James Black. He's a wizard author, writing books about Auror cases and selling them to muggle publishing houses. He changes the names of almost all the spells and calls Aurors, Watchers. Even wizarding kind has started reading them. He's very good."

Draco frowned down at the note. "And you know this how?"

"He signed one of my books of his. I recognize his signature"

Draco perked up. "So you know what he looks like?"

Pansy shook her head and waved at the barista with her empty coffee mug. "Unfortunately no. He's a bit of recluse. No one knows what he looks like, how old he is or any other detail that would identify him in a crowd. There isn't even any evidence that he was an Auror himself at one point. He could be getting his story ideas out of the newspaper, or have a friend that works in the Auror department who shares non-classified cases once they are all done."

Well that didn't help. "Then how did you get him to sign your book?"

Pansy giggled as the barista came by with a refill of coffee, this one in a take away cup. She squeezed the young mans butt and winked at him before turning her attention back to the blonde across from her. "You can send them in during a certain period of time and he'll sign them and send them back. It's like a top secret book signing. Very thrilling actually. Anyways, I have to run darling. I have a nail appointment. I'll see you next week though?"

"Yeah. I'll see you later." Draco said absentmindedly.

On the bright side, he now knew the name and occupation of his new employer. But that still didn't get him any closer to knowing who this elusive James Black really was.

0o--o0

Thursday night found Draco in the bathtub, reading the first of the highly praised James Black books, jazz music floating in from the living room. The blonde didn't care that it would look very girly to anyone else; he liked taking baths.

He turned another page and begrudgingly agreed with Pansy that James Black was a good author. The whole series was about Ron Smith, a talented but young Watcher who helped with cases his much more experienced partner was given; at least that was what everyone else at the department thought. In reality, Ron was the one solving the cases by following hunches and leads and then discreetly mentioning them to his partner.

It was strange to see the names of spells rearranged or completely changed. He wouldn't admit it, but he had even tried Black's version of Lumos. Naturally it hadn't worked.

As the water grew cold he finished the book and tossed it casually on the floor, far away from any water that could damage it. He took a deep breath and slid all the way under the water. His mind was reeling with possibilities of James Black's identity. Maybe he was a horribly fat and old man? Or perhaps a man with only two legs, who used a quick notes quill. Or maybe a student at Hogwarts who didn't want the attention of his fans just yet? Regardless, it was going to bother Draco until he saw the man face to face.

Draco opened his eyes under water and screamed at the blurry black shape hovering above him. He swallowed a mouth full of water and jerked upwards, sputtering and coughing.

"What the hell Pansy!"

"I thought you had drowned," Pansy said with a smile. "I was about to poke you with something to find out."

"Very funny. Why are you here?" Draco asked as he stood up and reached for a towel to dry off.

"I found the other books from Black. I thought you'd want them already. I know that once I got into them I didn't like waiting for the store to carry the next one." She glanced down and spotted the first book. "Draco! Don't put my books on the floor like that!" she scolded, scooping the novel up and holding it to her chest like a precious stone.

"It wouldn't have gotten wet," Draco said with an eye roll." But thank you for bringing the other ones over."

"You're welcome. Oh, if you ever see him, please have Black sign another one for me?"

Draco nodded. "I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you."

0o--o0

It was a rainy day on Friday when Draco showed up on the doorstep of Mr. Black's house. Today Greaves hadn't opened the gates or the doors so when Draco was finally let in he was soaked to the bone. He frowned at Graves who cracked a smile and cast a strong drying charm on the blonde.

Draco watched the wand as it was tucked back away and frowned harder. "You couldn't tell me this was a Wizarding house last week, because…"

"I was not sure if Mr. Black wanted you to know. Now that he was written you a note letting you know, I am free to use my Magic when ever I want. I trust you remember all the duties you were to perform today?"

Draco pulled the list of things out of his black jeans pocket and smile. "I wrote it all down. Don't worry; everything will be done by the time Mr. Black comes home."

Graves nodded once and moved to turn away. "Oh," he said over his shoulder. "Try to be done before the Master returns. He leaves his office at 5."


End file.
